The director called the president a "narcissist" but also said that Trump "always knows what he's doing"

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March 1, 2017 6:26PM (UTC)

Director and activist Michael Moore joined MSNBC's Chris Matthews Tuesday night to react to President Donald Trump's address to Congress. Moore found the speech perplexing because, at certain points, Trump directly contradicted statements he has made in the past.

"What we are witness here is an added, new chapter to George Orwell's '1984' where up is down and down is up. And sometimes now it happens on the same day," Moore said.

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Moore was specifically referring to the president's comments during a meeting with state attorneys general, when he suggested that liberals were responsible for the bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers.

"Earlier today, the Pennsylvania attorney general said that in his meeting with Trump, Trump said these bomb threats to the Jewish centers may not be coming in from right-wing people — like Jews and liberals might be doing it to make us look bad," Moore said. "But tonight in the speech, powerful words against anti-Semitism and we have to fight bigotry. It was up today, down tonight."

Matthews thought this was an incredibly insensitive thing for Trump to say considering Pennsylvania's attorney general, Josh Shapiro, is Jewish. Moore was not surprised when he heard Trump's comments.

"To a malignant narcissist, you aren't ever thinking you are insulting anybody because it is all about you. That would require empathy," Moore said.

Later in the interview, Moore explained why Trump is such an effective politician.

"He is very good as a performance artist," Moore said. "He invented a catch-phrase that everyone loved. And everyone loved that show. He was a beloved TV star. And he knew how to milk it. He knew what he was doing. He always knows what he is doing."

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Taylor Link

Taylor Link is an assistant editor at Salon. You can find him on Twitter at @taylorlink_